Jurors recommended today that a former Compton man who parked his Jeep on railroad tracks, causing a Metrolink derailment that killed 11 people and injured more than 180 others, spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Jurors deliberated about three hours before deciding that 29-year-old Juan Manuel Alvarez should live out his days in state prison, without the possibility of parole, for his actions of Jan. 26, 2005.

The panel decided against their only other option — death by lethal injection.

Judges make the ultimate decision, but rarely reject a jury’s recommendation.